However, there is one problem with the stick: Like all NHL players, Pavel Datsyuk has his choice of hockey sticks. When Reebok offered a new stick with holes in it, the Detroit Red Wings center didn't know what to think - but was excited to try it.

Datsyuk has been using the stick with seven strategically placed holes toward the bottom of the shaft since December. He says it has improved his game and enticed him to put more shots on goal.

"Now it's colored green and black," he said, jokingly. "What I need is (one that's) colored red and black because I'm on the Red Wings."

Datsyuk was the first to adopt the stick, but others are slowly following suit. And more converts are likely after the stick's retail launch in May. In the meantime, Datsyuk isn't lending his out.

"(It's a) big secret, I don't give it to nobody - it's mine," he said, adding that the new, light and whippy sticks are far from the wood ones with big curves he used growing up in Russia. "It's a big progress for sticks. It's what I needed."

Yeah I'd like to try it out too. From what Dats says it improves your shot. I don't have much of a shot, I'm mostly a stickhandler. So maybe I don't need it. I mostly score on backhand dekes. Then again, if it improves your shot, then I guess I could use it since I have a terrible shot. Hah...

My buddy is a manager at Play it Again and he says he'll get them in and they will run close to $300 maybe even more. This was over two months ago, so maybe RBK changed the pricing since then. I think he said there will be two versions of it. One cheaper than the other. Not sure what the difference is though.

Hopefully these sticks will drive the prices down on the other 1 piece sticks (Like the Stealth, bought one for the first time two months ago, I love it). When the refridgerators came out with built in TV's, I noticed some of the other real nice ones prices dropped a bit. Hah, but I'm sure appliances and hockey sticks are two different markets.

Sounds like a great stick to use. I would love to try it out, now only if the Storm got their hands on it because my roommate interns for them and gets free s*** all the time.

Alas, I am one of those old curmudgeons who refuses to move with the times. I suppose one day they'll stop making wood sticks altoghether and i'll either have to make my own, by them on the black market or suck it up and try something new.

Alas, I am one of those old curmudgeons who refuses to move with the times. I suppose one day they'll stop making wood sticks altoghether and i'll either have to make my own, by them on the black market or suck it up and try something new.

Don't worry. The Sherwood 5030 is still one of the best selling sticks on the market.

Alas, I am one of those old curmudgeons who refuses to move with the times.

I used a wooden stick since I was 3 all the way up until I stopped played my second year in high school. I love wooden sticks and they are so much better for slap shots ( I was a D) but I still would love to try it out because it looks like you can get more wrist shot power out of it because of the holes adding less resistance to the stick and more maneuverability. In exchange for slap shot power and maybe overall strength of the stick? I don't know but I do know I'll have to wait a year at most to play around with one.

I used a wooden stick since I was 3 all the way up until I stopped played my second year in high school. I love wooden sticks and they are so much better for slap shots ( I was a D) but I still would love to try it out because it looks like you can get more wrist shot power out of it because of the holes adding less resistance to the stick and more maneuverability. In exchange for slap shot power and maybe overall strength of the stick? I don't know but I do know I'll have to wait a year at most to play around with one.

I too play D and have always used wood. I've never taken a shift or even really messed with anything, even aluminum in my life.

I dunno, I guess i'm old fashioned. I just turned 30 this year so by no means am I old but for whatever reason i've always preferred wood. My "man room" at home is pretty much covered with old school photos and autographs, guys like Boom Boom Geoffrion, Fern Flaman, Giacomin, Worsley, Kennedy, etc... as opposed to Dats, Jagr, Sid, etc.... Something about the old days just seems better to me. Anyway, I started with wood, love the heft of a wood stick and my talents always lay elsewhere than stickhandling and shooting the puck. Specifically, two-handers and cross checks feel great when you're delivering them with wood. Plus when they break as I'm prone to fits of rage and frustration, i'm only out like 24 bucks.

Yesterday i got to hold one of dats game used 'hole-y' sticks. seriously it's as light as a feather. i didn't get a look at the price though, but I'm sure they were not cheap. others in the store were in the 300 dollar ranger, so IBM sure a special 'hole-y' game used stick is even more.

I doubt I will ever find significant enough justification to pay that much for a hockey stick. I'm a bit old school myself, GS&T. I laced 'em up at age four and stuck with wood until about two years ago. I finally got a half-and-half type stick, I believe it was a composite shaft with a honeycomb wood core. Since then I've gradually migrated towards whatever cheap composites are on the market. Right now Perani's is selling some WinnWells for under $40, so I've gone through a couple of those but now I'm back to a two-piece setup. Composite with a wood outer shell and a wood blade. Something about it just feels better.

What really burns me is when I bust a composite and some audacious punk fixes the shaft and puts a new blade in it. I'm always tempted to beat him up and take it back.